These Terms and Conditions (“Terms”) govern your use of The Xplorist, a service of Ocean Park Production LLC, located at 3680 Wilshire Blvd., Ste PO4 - 1510, Los Angeles, CA 90010, United States (“we,” “us,” “our,” or “the Company”). The Xplorist is accessible at https://www.thexplorist.io (the “Service”).
Please read these Terms carefully. They contain a binding arbitration agreement and class action waiver in Section 13.
By accessing or using the Service, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.
1. Eligibility
You must be at least 18 years old to use the Service. By using the Service, you represent that you are at least 18 and have the legal capacity to enter into these Terms.
The Service is intended for users in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand at launch. We may expand to additional jurisdictions in the future.
2. The Service
The Xplorist is an editorial cross-reference platform for travel discovery and planning. The Service provides:
- Destination pages with awards, ratings, and recommendations referenced from third-party editorial publications
- Curated lists (“Folios”) that you can create, save, and share
- A personal travel record (“Travelogue”) for logging trips, hotels, and places visited
- Personalization based on your stated travel preferences
- Other features added from time to time
We may modify, suspend, or discontinue the Service or any feature at our discretion. We will provide reasonable notice of material changes that affect paid subscribers.
3. Accounts
To access certain features, you must create an account. You agree to:
- Provide accurate, complete, and current account information
- Keep your password secure and confidential
- Notify us promptly of any unauthorized use of your account
- Be responsible for all activity that occurs under your account
You may not use a username that infringes another’s rights, is unlawfully available for use, or is offensive. We may refuse or reclaim any username at our discretion.
4. Subscription, Billing, and Auto-Renewal
Subscription plans
The Service offers paid subscription plans on a monthly or annual basis. The current plans, prices, and features are presented at checkout and at https://www.thexplorist.io/plans.
Free trial
We may offer a free trial period at sign-up. The length and terms of any free trial are presented to you at the time of subscription. At the end of the trial, your subscription will automatically convert to a paid subscription at the price displayed at checkout, unless you cancel before the trial ends. You can cancel during the trial through your account settings, and you will not be charged.
Billing
By starting a paid subscription, you authorize us (through Stripe) to charge your chosen payment method on a recurring basis according to your selected plan (monthly or annually). Subscription fees are billed in advance for each billing period.
Auto-renewal
Subscriptions automatically renew at the end of each billing period at the then-current price unless you cancel before the renewal date. You can cancel auto-renewal at any time through your account settings.
For annual subscriptions, we will send you a renewal reminder by email at least 30 days before each annual renewal, including the renewal price and instructions for cancellation.
Failed payments
If a payment fails, we may retry the payment, and we may suspend or terminate access to paid features if payment cannot be collected after reasonable retry attempts.
Price changes
We may change subscription prices. We will notify you of price changes by email at least 30 days before the change takes effect for your subscription. If you do not agree to a price change, you may cancel before it takes effect.
Cancellation
You may cancel your subscription at any time through your account settings. Cancellation takes effect at the end of your current billing period. You will retain access to paid features until that date.
Refunds
Subscription fees are non-refundable except where required by law. We do not refund partial billing periods. We may, at our sole discretion, issue refunds in exceptional circumstances.
Cancellation by us
We may suspend or terminate your subscription if you breach these Terms, fail to pay, or use the Service in a manner that creates legal or operational risk. If we terminate without cause, we will refund any prepaid fees for the unused portion of your billing period.
5. Acceptable Use
When using the Service, you agree not to:
- Use the Service for any illegal purpose or in violation of any applicable law
- Scrape, crawl, or use automated tools to access the Service without our prior written consent
- Reverse engineer, decompile, or attempt to extract the source code of the Service
- Interfere with or disrupt the Service, servers, or networks
- Bypass or attempt to bypass rate limits, access controls, or security measures
- Share your account with others or sell, transfer, or sublicense your account
- Submit content that is unlawful, infringing, defamatory, harassing, or otherwise objectionable
- Use the Service to harvest information about other users
- Use the Service in a way that misrepresents your affiliation with us or any third party
- Use the Service to compete with The Xplorist or to build a competing product
We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these rules.
6. User Content
The Service allows you to create, save, and share content, including Folios, Travelogue entries, saved items, and feedback (“User Content”).
Ownership
You retain ownership of your User Content.
License to us
By submitting User Content, you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to host, store, display, reproduce, and distribute your User Content as necessary to operate, improve, and provide the Service. If you make a Folio public or share it via link, this license extends to displaying your User Content to other users and viewers of the shared content.
Your representations
You represent and warrant that:
- You own or have the necessary rights to your User Content
- Your User Content does not infringe any third party’s rights
- Your User Content does not violate any applicable law
Removal
We may remove User Content that violates these Terms or applicable law, with or without notice.
Feedback
Any feedback, suggestions, or ideas you provide about the Service may be used by us without restriction or compensation. You assign to us all rights in your Feedback.
7. Editorial Sources and Citations
The Service references awards, ratings, and recommendations from third-party editorial publications as factual citations to publicly available reviews. The Xplorist is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by any publication referenced. Citations may include the source publication name, the award or recognition, the year, and a link to the original review. We do not republish source publication review text on the Service.
If you represent a publication and have a concern about how content is referenced on the Service, contact us at feedback@thexplorist.io. We will respond to good-faith requests or questions.
8. Intellectual Property
The Service and all content, features, and functionality (excluding User Content and third-party editorial citations) are the exclusive property of Ocean Park Production LLC and its licensors. The Service is protected by copyright, trademark, and other laws.
“The Xplorist” and the Xplorist logo are trademarks of Ocean Park Production LLC. You may not use our trademarks or trade dress without our prior written consent, except as permitted by nominative fair use to refer to the Service factually.
9. DMCA / Copyright Policy
The Xplorist respects intellectual property rights and complies with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. § 512). This section describes our policy for responding to copyright complaints.
Designated Copyright Agent
We have designated an agent to receive notifications of claimed copyright infringement under the DMCA. Our designated agent is registered with the U.S. Copyright Office and may be contacted at:
Email: dmca@thexplorist.io
Mail: DMCA Designated Agent, Ocean Park Production LLC, 3680 Wilshire Blvd., Ste PO4 - 1510, Los Angeles, CA 90010, United States
Filing a Takedown Notice
If you believe content on the Service infringes your copyright, you may submit a written notice to our designated agent that includes:
- Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed (or, if multiple works at a single site are covered, a representative list of those works)
- Identification of the allegedly infringing material and information reasonably sufficient to allow us to locate it (such as the URL on the Service)
- Your contact information (name, address, telephone number, and email)
- A statement that you have a good-faith belief that the use of the material is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law
- A statement, under penalty of perjury, that the information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on behalf of the owner
- Your physical or electronic signature
Notices that do not substantially comply with these requirements may not be effective. Submitting false or misleading notices may result in liability for damages, including costs and attorneys’ fees, under 17 U.S.C. § 512(f).
Our Response to a Takedown Notice
Upon receipt of a valid notice, we will:
- Review the notice in good faith
- Remove or disable access to the allegedly infringing material if the notice is valid
- Notify the user who submitted the affected content (where applicable) of the removal, provide them a copy of the notice with personal information redacted as appropriate, and inform them of their right to submit a counter-notification
Counter-Notification
If your content was removed in response to a takedown notice and you believe the removal was the result of mistake or misidentification, you may submit a counter-notification to our designated agent that includes:
- Identification of the material that was removed and the location at which it appeared before removal
- A statement, under penalty of perjury, that you have a good-faith belief the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification
- Your name, address, and telephone number
- A statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the federal district court for the district where you reside (or, if outside the United States, the United States District Court for the Central District of California), and that you will accept service of process from the person who provided the original takedown notice or that person’s agent
- Your physical or electronic signature
Upon receipt of a valid counter-notification, we will forward it to the original complainant. Unless the complainant notifies us within 10 to 14 business days that they have filed a court action seeking a court order to restrain you from the allegedly infringing activity, we may restore the removed material.
Submitting false or misleading counter-notifications may also result in liability under 17 U.S.C. § 512(f).
Repeat Infringer Policy
We will terminate, in appropriate circumstances, the accounts of users who are determined to be repeat infringers. We may also limit access to the Service or terminate the accounts of users who infringe intellectual property rights, whether or not they are repeat offenders, at our reasonable discretion.
Other Editorial Concerns
For non-DMCA editorial concerns about how third-party publication content is referenced on the Service, see Section 7 (Editorial Sources and Citations). Editorial concerns may be sent to feedback@thexplorist.io.
10. Third-Party Links and Services
The Service contains links to third-party websites, including the original publications cited as editorial sources. We do not control these third-party sites and are not responsible for their content, privacy practices, or availability.
11. Disclaimers
THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE,” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, WE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, AND ANY WARRANTIES ARISING FROM COURSE OF DEALING OR USAGE OF TRADE.
We do not warrant that:
- The Service will meet your requirements or be available at any particular time
- The Service will be uninterrupted, secure, or error-free
- Information provided through the Service will be accurate, complete, or current
- Defects will be corrected
Travel-related information (visa, weather, currency, health, safety) is provided for general reference only. You are responsible for verifying current requirements with official sources before traveling. Editorial citations are provided as references; awards and ratings change over time, and we do not guarantee that referenced honors remain current.
Some jurisdictions do not allow exclusion of certain warranties; in those jurisdictions, the above exclusions may not apply to you.
12. Limitation of Liability
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, OUR TOTAL LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS OR THE SERVICE WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) THE AMOUNT YOU PAID US IN THE 12 MONTHS PRECEDING THE CLAIM, OR (B) ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS ($100).
WE WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING LOST PROFITS, LOST DATA, OR LOSS OF GOODWILL, EVEN IF WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
These limitations apply to claims based on contract, tort, statute, or any other legal theory. Some jurisdictions do not allow these limitations; in those jurisdictions, our liability will be limited to the greatest extent permitted by law.
13. Dispute Resolution and Arbitration Agreement
Please read this section carefully. It affects your legal rights.
Informal resolution first
Before starting any formal proceeding, you and we agree to try in good faith to resolve any dispute informally. Either party may initiate this process by sending a written notice to the other describing the dispute. The parties will have 30 days to resolve the dispute through informal discussions. Notices to us must be sent to legal@thexplorist.io.
Binding individual arbitration
If informal resolution does not succeed, all disputes arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service will be resolved by binding individual arbitration, except as set out in the Small Claims Carve-Out below.
Arbitration will be administered by the American Arbitration Association (AAA) under its Consumer Arbitration Rules. The AAA Rules are available at www.adr.org. The arbitration will be conducted by a single arbitrator. The arbitrator’s decision will be final and binding.
Arbitration may be conducted in person, by telephone or video conference, or based on written submissions, at the consumer’s election. If conducted in person, the venue will be Los Angeles County, California.
Filing fees and arbitrator fees are governed by the AAA Consumer Arbitration Rules, which provide a reduced fee for consumers.
Class action waiver
You and we agree that any dispute will be brought solely in our individual capacities and not as a plaintiff or class member in any class, collective, representative, or consolidated action. The arbitrator may not consolidate claims or preside over class proceedings.
Small Claims Carve-Out
Either party may bring an individual claim in small claims court if the claim qualifies under the rules of the small claims court in the consumer’s jurisdiction. Disputes under $10,000 may be brought in small claims court instead of arbitration.
Injunctive relief
Either party may bring suit in court to enjoin infringement or other misuse of intellectual property rights.
Severability
If any portion of this Section 13 is found unenforceable, the remainder of the section will remain in effect, and the unenforceable portion will be severed.
30-day opt-out
You may opt out of this arbitration agreement and class action waiver by sending written notice to legal@thexplorist.io within 30 days of first accepting these Terms. Your opt-out notice must include your name, account email, and a statement that you wish to opt out. Opting out will not affect any other provisions of these Terms.
14. Governing Law and Venue
These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of California, without regard to its conflict of laws principles. For any dispute not subject to arbitration (or for which arbitration is opted out), the exclusive venue is the state and federal courts located in Los Angeles County, California, and you and we consent to personal jurisdiction in those courts.
15. Termination
You may terminate your account at any time by canceling your subscription and contacting us to delete your account. Cancellation of a paid subscription is described in Section 4.
We may terminate or suspend your account or access to the Service at any time, with or without cause and with or without notice, including if you violate these Terms. Upon termination:
- Your right to use the Service ends immediately
- Sections that by their nature should survive (including Sections 6, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 17) will survive termination
16. Changes to These Terms
We may update these Terms from time to time. If we make material changes, we will notify you by email or prominent notice on the Service at least 30 days before the changes take effect. By continuing to use the Service after the effective date, you accept the revised Terms. If you do not agree, you must stop using the Service and may cancel your subscription.
17. Miscellaneous
Entire agreement
These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy and Cookies Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and us regarding the Service.
Assignment
You may not assign these Terms without our written consent. We may assign these Terms to an affiliate or in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets.
Severability
If any provision is held unenforceable, the remainder will continue in full force and effect.
Waiver
Failure to enforce any right or provision is not a waiver of that right or provision.
Force majeure
We are not liable for any failure or delay in performance caused by events beyond our reasonable control.
Notices
Notices to us must be sent to legal@thexplorist.io. Notices to you may be sent to the email address associated with your account.
Translation
These Terms are written in English. Any translation is provided for convenience only; the English version controls in case of conflict.
Export compliance
You represent that you are not located in a country subject to a U.S. government embargo or designated as a “terrorist supporting” country, and that you are not on any U.S. government list of restricted parties.
18. Contact Us
For general questions: hello@thexplorist.io
For legal/dispute notices: legal@thexplorist.io
For DMCA: dmca@thexplorist.io
For privacy questions: privacy@thexplorist.io
Mail: Ocean Park Production LLC, 3680 Wilshire Blvd., Ste PO4 - 1510, Los Angeles, CA 90010, United States